Coach Confirms Its Partnership With Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez, the doe-eyed pop star and actress, will be the face of Coach, the American fashion and accessories brand said on Friday. The announcement confirms a report first published by Page Six of The New York Post early this week, which quickly ricocheted around the internet.

As part of her new partnership with Coach, Ms. Gomez will appear in the brand’s ad campaigns (beginning with fall 2017) and social media; team up with the Coach Foundation in its work with Step Up, an organization empowering girls in underserved communities; and work on designing a piece for fall with Stuart Vevers, the brand’s executive creative director. It will not, as earlier reports indicated, be her own fully-fledged fashion line under the aegis of Coach.

“I am so excited to work with Coach and love the clothes and accessories designed by Stuart Vevers,” Ms. Gomez said in a release issued by the company. “I am especially looking forward to getting to know the Coach team as well as becoming involved in the foundation’s support of Step Up.

“On top of all that, collaborating on a piece with Stuart for next fall makes this beyond special to me.”

Ms. Gomez, 24, is a millennial multithreat: She arrived via Disney Channel, appearing for several seasons on “Wizards of Waverly Place,” and continues to act and produce while also developing a successful pop music career. (Last month, she won an American Music Award for favorite female artist in the pop/rock category.)

But she is perhaps most notable for her enormous social media following. In 2016, Ms. Gomez added the most followers of anyone on Instagram to become the most followed person (104 million) on the platform as well as the most-liked Instagram photo of all time. (By comparison, Kim Kardashian West has 88.9 million and Beyoncé, 90 million.) The most-liked Instagram photo of all time is of Ms. Gomez sipping from a bottle of Coke printed with her lyrics — an ad for the soda company.

“I came at this because I was inspired and excited by the idea of working with a woman I felt I could really identify with at the end of the day,” Mr. Vevers said in an interview. “At the end of the day, I design for an authentic, honest woman. Selena possesses that ease and that romantic charm and that cool confident attitude — that’s what I’m excited about. At the end of the day, the numbers are not my focus. It’s that this feels organic and right for where we are right now.”

Ms. Gomez is no stranger to the fashion industry. She had her own apparel line at Kmart, as well as a small collection that was distributed alongside her “Revival” tour in 2016. But she has lately been wearing, and cozying up to, luxury brands. She appeared in an ad campaign for Louis Vuitton this summer and accompanied its women’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière, to the Met Gala this year.

Coach, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, is undergoing an evolution of its own. Following a challenging few years, the company has invested in brand building to refresh its image. In November, it opened a Fifth Avenue flagship store that is its largest in the world. Last week, Mr. Vevers presented his prefall collection at a splashy runway show and party attended by Drew Barrymore, Michael B. Jordan and Emma Roberts (but not Ms. Gomez).

“We’ve gone through a big reset,” Mr. Vevers said. “I’ve found that when people know what we’re doing, they tend to be very positive about it. I think sometimes it’s about getting the message out.” Working with Ms. Gomez, he said, was a great way to do that.

Earlier reports said that Ms. Gomez’s fee for the project had been $10 million. Victor Luis, the chief executive of Coach, declined to comment on either the contract’s financial terms or its duration. Mr. Luis did not rule out working with other celebrities in different product categories and different regions. The actress Chloë Grace Moretz has recently appeared in Coach ads and was named the face of its perfume.